


Taking the Dare

by SocialDeception



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Anal Sex, Enemies to Lovers, Kind of fluffy, M/M, Oral Sex, PWP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 10:16:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14186685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialDeception/pseuds/SocialDeception
Summary: A snarky comment on MacCready's part changes the dynamic of the entire evening.





	Taking the Dare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ObscureNightmare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObscureNightmare/gifts).



* * *

 

  
The sky was stretched above them, crisp and clear in the early autumn chill.

It was already past midnight and MacCready was pleasantly buzzed from the beers Nate had brought home from some brewery he’d found further South. Empty bottles were littering the ground around the fire pit, and MacCready leaned back with a smile.

Nate had built a neat little shed with sturdy walls, but with a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape, so they could sit in relative peace from the wind, but still enjoy the heat of the fire.

It was peaceful, just then, like everything was alright. They were a ragtag sort of group, for sure, but at the moment they all felt like friends. He’d been sharing easy flirtatious jokes with Cait, and traded war stories with Deacon. Even Strong had joined in, even if he’d pretty much spent the evening in the corner, talking about milk and how stupid humans were for drinking.

MacCready chuckled to himself and absent mindedly stroked his leather duster between his fingers. The thing was worn, the leather soft and thin to the touch, but he loved it far too much to replace it. Looking around the fire, that seemed to be the case for all of them. They were all holding on to something from their past, even if it was tattered and ruined.

Paladin Danse was seated near the edge of the fire, next to Nate, but far from anyone else. He looked tense, gaze held firmly at the fire. Case in point, he was still wearing his power armor, the Brotherhood logo proudly displayed on his chest. As far as MacCready knew, Danse hadn’t had more than the one beer he was still dangling between his fingers, and if the crease between his eyes was any indication, then he wasn’t enjoying the encounter like the others were. He looked so out of place MacCready almost had to stifle a chuckle. Far, far away from his Brotherhood comrades who, in the end, turned out to be just as shitty as MacCready predicted. Even to one of their own.

He was interrupted by Piper, who stumbled into him and then gave him a dirty look when he tried to help her regain her balance.

“Not even when I’m drunk, MacCready,” she said, but there was the faintest smile playing at her lips that took some of the venom out.

“Oh, Piper, we all know you’re gonna fold one of these days.” He leaned back and gestured to himself. “I’m pretty irresistible, after all.”

Piper rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s a word for ’persistent’ I haven’t heard before.”

Someone laughed, but when MacCready looked up he couldn’t see the culprit, but he did find Danse looking at him. Unlike the others, his eyes weren’t hazy and intoxicated, but clear and in the moment, eerily scrutinizing MacCready’s face.

MacCready took the dare head on, staring back until Danse finally looked off to the side. The corners of his mouth was pulled down in a frown, and he had a sip of beer with a grimace.

“What’s the matter, Danse?” MacCready called out, before he had a chance to think it over. “Cranky it’s beer and not motor oil?”

It felt like everything slowed down and stopped at that moment. The others all froze, some with bottles still raised, some looking at MacCready with horror, others, like Cait, trying to stifle laughter.

Danse turned slowly, eyes widened, and he looked at MacCready like he had grown an extra head. Sure, everyone had sarcastic quirps they liked to shoot out, but going straight for someone’s weak point? That didn’t happen too often.

“And that’s my cue to go to bed,” Nick said and flicked his cigarette into the fire, sending MacCready a disapproving glance.

No one had really addressed the newfound knowledge of Danse’s true identity, and if they had, it wouldn’t have been like this. MacCready raised his chin, meeting Danse’s glare head on with a defiant stare of his own, but he wondered deep down if he’d finally taken things too far.

Danse sat still for a moment, before standing up. He said something to Nate, too low for MacCready to hear, and then he walked off. MacCready would have called out something to him about the clanking of his power armor, but suddenly it didn’t seem as funny as before.

Nate didn’t say anything, he just quietly sipped his beer and stared into the fire. Slowly, the other’s conversations started back up, but not as lively as before. Everyone ignored MacCready.

MacCready cracked open another beer, and downed about half of it. Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and tried to follow along with the conversations around him without much luck.

Honestly, he felt a little bad. Even if it was for Danse, of all people; Toxic and hateful as he was. He couldn’t even hide behind some fancy title anymore. Was Danse even his name? First name or last? It was impossible to tell, and it wasn’t like it mattered anyway.

MacCready groaned and put his half-empty beer on the ground next to his seat, and got up. Nate didn’t have to berate him for MacCready to know he was disappointed, and that was worse than anything else. Nate had changed MacCready’s life in more ways than one, and even if he didn’t always agree with Nate’s solutions and actions, they were friends. And a friend in the Commonwealth was rarer than he wanted to admit.

No one said anything when he left, and a good thing too; Had they said anything about apologizing to Danse, then MacCready would’ve gone straight to bed. Instead he quietly left the warmth of the fire and good conversation for the chill of the evening and the prospect of talking to Danse. MacCready groaned.

Sanctuary was dark, and most of the settlers had gone to bed, and MacCready made his way past the dilapidated houses, trying to keep himself from cursing up a storm.

No one really owned a house here, more like they had a small room if they were lucky, in a shared house with many others. Danse’s were at the edge of Sanctuary, at the end of the cul-de-sac, and MacCready made his way there with what felt like stones in his stomach.

He needn’t have, because when he stood outside the door he realized the house was dark and empty. He could barely see an armor workbench in the dark, with the accompanying smell of motor oil and what Cait had aptly described as testosterone. MacCready shook his head and walked around the house.

He was going over the things he might say in his head, but stopped abruptly once he was around the corner.

Behind the house, on top of the small hill, stood Danse. the line of his body in stark relief to the starry night sky. He was wearing his power armor, like he always was, standing still as a statue. Off in the distance, almost invisible in the dark, was the Prydwen.

MacCready swallowed thickly, suddenly very unsure about what to do. This was a private moment, and he doubted Danse would appreciate it if he barged in on it.

“I’m alright, Nate, you didn’t-” Danse turned and seemed surprised to see MacCready. “Oh.” Danse’s eyebrows immediately knitted together, and the corners of his mouth pulled in a frown. “It’s you.” Then, after a pause. “What do you want?”

MacCready didn’t know how to answer, so he just walked up closer. Danse watched him carefully, with a guarded expression on his face.

“I-” MacCready started, then looked away. “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

“Did Nate put you up to this?” Danse asked, studying MacCready’s face with that strange, intense way he always did.

“No,” MacCready said, then shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I mean, kinda. I knew he didn’t like it, but…” he drifted off.

Danse hummed, and started to turn back to the Prydwen.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, you know,” MacCready blurted, and Danse turned his head back and watched him under lowered brows. “Being a synth, I mean.”

Danse watched him for a long moment, then scoffed and turned away again.

“I mean it. Look at Nick.” MacCready cast a glance behind him, suddenly worried that Nick would be standing right behind him. “He’s some creepy, glowy-eyed, outdated version, and he’s still the best person in our group.”

Danse chuckled, then, barely audible in the night.

“I don’t have a problem being a synth,” Danse said, and MacCready knew he was lying. “It’s the implications and ramifications that I struggle with, not the fact itself.”

MacCready wasn’t sure how he felt about synths. He disliked immensely the creepy, steel constructions that were more toaster than human, but there was a special kind of unease with the ones that could pass as human. Someone like Danse could still be controlled by the institute. Or malfunction. One misfiring in whatever hardware he had in his head, and they could all be dead.

Danse was watching him when MacCready finally shook himself out of it.

“Not so sure anymore, are you?” he asked.

“I mean, I’m not gonna lie and say the prospects of something snapping in your head and killing us all is all that inviting.”

“Same can be said of humans,” Danse immediately countered.

“I still don’t understand how you didn’t know.” MacCready tried to keep his tone free of accusation, but judging by the sudden flare of anger on Danse’s face, he could tell he hadn’t been entirely successful.

“How is that so hard to understand?” Danse said, taking a step closer. “I bleed like you do, scar like you do, hurt and fall in love and-” He cut himself off with a sigh. “Go to bed, MacCready.”

“But-”

“It’s fine. You can go to bed with a clear conscience.” Danse waved him off with an armor clad hand, and turned back around to the Prydwen in the distance.

“They’re assh- idiots, you know,” MacCready said quietly. “For treating you like that.”

He thought he could see Danse tense, but when he spoke, his voice was even. “They have their ideals.”

“That isn’t an excuse for treating peop- you that way.”

Danse turned to him again, looking exasperated. “It might not be for you, but trust me when I say it is to me. I’d rather be exiled than change the Brotherhood’s ideals.”

MacCready scoffed and shook his head. “You’re as crazy as ever,” he spat, and turned on his heel to leave.

A cold grip around his wrist jerked him back, and when he tried to shake Danse’s hand off, he found that he couldn’t. Danse’s grip was like iron, and he stared down on MacCready’s face with flushed anger.

“I realize it’s not easily unstood for a insubordinate civilian such as yourself, but without these rules and regulations, the Brotherhood would fall.”

“Maybe that would be for the best, you ever thought about that?” MacCready hissed and tried once more to shake Danse’s grip off.

At those words, Danse’s face grew dark and he yanked MacCready closer so he could growl something angry into MacCready’s face. Except MacCready suddenly couldn’t focus on his words at all. He’d never been afraid of Danse. Hell, he hadn’t been afraid of anything for a very long time, other than his son’s illness and those agonizing moments before Lucy had died. Yet now he found himself staring into Danse’s eyes that had gone dark with anger, and all he wanted to do was break free and get his gun.

“Let my damn arm go,” MacCready hissed, and to his surprise Danse actually did what he said. His fingers tingled when the blood flow was no longer restricted, and he massaged his hand with a low grunt. Danse watched him silently, that crease between his brows ever present and MacCready fixed him with a glare of his own, before turning to leave.

It was getting cold anyhow, he thought to himself. He was too angry for sleep to come easy, but damn if he didn’t want to curl into the warmth of his bedroll. He hadn’t sought out Danse to argue, he knew that much, but at the same time it bothered him that he hadn’t come out on top.

“Good night, Danse,” he shot over his shoulder, then, lower, “If you’re even able to sleep without your precious Maxson there to command you to bed.”

He’d said it so low he hadn’t expected Danse to hear, and at first he wasn’t sure what the growling sound behind him came from. He halfway turned, startled to find Danse’s face just inches away, completely twisted in anger.

Danse didn’t settle for his wrist this time, no, he grabbed both of MacCready’s thin shoulders and slammed him harshly against the back wall of the house.

“How dare you,” Danse snarled. “Nate takes you in like a stray dog, does everything for you, and this is how you repay him?”

“Oh, that’s rich,” MacCready said, his heart thumping against his ribs. “So you’re some saint then, huh? Never spoke badly of any of ‘em? Not Nick, not Strong, not Hancock, hell, not even me?”

Danse had the good sense to look ashamed, but he didn’t ease his grip on MacCready’s shoulders.

“That’s different,” he said, but he didn’t look altogether convinced.

“Yeah, that’s different,” MacCready scoffed. “Why? Because the Brotherhood told you so?”

“At least my ideals aren’t centered around caps,” Danse sneered. “Killing innocents because someone told you to? How is that better?”

“There’s no point telling you.” MacCready tensed against Danse’s hold. “You don’t have a family, and you never will.”

There was a brief moment where Danse’s face was one of bleak despair, before it once again hardened.

“You really will stoop to any level, won’t you?” Danse said, and pushed MacCready harder against the wall before letting go of him. He looked absolutely disgusted with MacCready just then, and when he stepped away, it was MacCready’s turn to grab him.

“Look at you,” MacCready shouted. “Hiding in your damn power armor so you can look down your nose at the rest of us! And for what?” He knocked his fist against the faded Brotherhood emblem on Danse’s chest. “You’re delusional!”

Danse stared at him, seemingly debating himself, before he pushed the release button that opened up the back of his armor. Then, before MacCready could say anything, he had climbed out of it, and stepped right back up to MacCready’s face.

He was still taller, damn him, and he glared down at MacCready with fury etched in every line of his face. He wasn’t any less imposing out of his armor, but the heat radiating out of his body took MacCready by surprise. He’d halfway assumed that Danse was like Nick; Cool to the touch and undisturbed by the elements. Truth was, he was anything but.

Danse had MacCready pinned to the wall again, warm hands digging into his shoulders, the long, firm length of his body braced against MacCready’s.

“How dare you,” Danse said quietly, and for a brief moment MacCready wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

“Well, Nate isn’t telling you,” MacCready hissed after a moment. “So someone’s gotta.”

Danse was actually baring his teeth at this point. It was almost fascinating. In some ways, it was the most human he’d ever seen Danse, but at the same time, he seemed a bit like a wild animal.

“Leave Nate out of this.”

It was almost pathetic, this unwavering loyalty Danse showed Nate, but MacCready supposed he did the same thing.

“Make me,” MacCready spat, straining against Danse’s chest. “I dare you.”

In hindsight MacCready wasn’t sure why he chose that exact turn of phrase. In hindsight it was a stupid thing to say.

Because the moment the words were out of MacCready’s mouth, Danse closed the distance between them and crushed his lips to his.

MacCready was too stunned to say or do anything straight away. He went completely rigid in Danse’s hold, before he finally dug his fingers into Danse’s ridiculous Brotherhood suit and pushed. Danse was uncompromising and unyielding, holding MacCready so firmly that there was no way for him to push Danse off, nor squirm away. Maybe that unnatural strength was the giveaway that Danse wasn’t fully human.

There was nothing about Danse’s mouth that betrayed he was synth, though, it was all soft and slick, like MacCready remembered from when Lucy was still alive. He quickly pushed that thought out of his head when Danse forced his thigh between MacCready’s legs.

“What are you-” MacCready started, but was quickly silenced by Danse’s demanding mouth.

It was insanity, the heat flaring in MacCready’s chest, searing his spine like wildfire, settling somewhere low in his gut. He was just so angry, and he bit down on Danse’s lower lip, encouraged by Danse’s low grunt of pain.

This time, instead of trying to push Danse away, he yanked Danse closer, reveling in the way Danse groaned in surprise when he did.

It didn’t take long before Danse’s hands moved from MacCready’s shoulders to his hips, holding him with crushing intensity.

“Bed,” Danse growled. “Now.”

“Wait, what?” MacCready was too startled by the sudden loss of contact to struggle when Danse pulled him along by his arm. He wasn’t even lucid enough to see if anyone saw them, before Danse shoved him through the doorway and kicked the door shut behind him.

He was on MacCready again before he could say another word, pushing him backwards into a narrow bedroom.

Funny, really. MacCready had seen a fair share of women flirting with Danse, and the reply had always been some stuttering mess, accompanied by a blush across Danse’s face and neck. There was nothing unsure about him now, though, as he practically tore MacCready’s duster apart in an effort to get him naked.

“Fuck-” MacCready said before he could stop himself, and Danse shot him a glare before his hands was under MacCready’s shirt, fingers scorching hot against his skin. MacCready wasn’t sure how Danse did it, but soon his shirt was parted and his chest was exposed to Danse, who watched him greedily.

Then Danse’s mouth was against MacCready’s neck, hot and heady, his teeth scraping against the sensitive skin there. MacCready couldn’t stop the small whimper from escaping his lips, and he didn’t miss the low groan coming from Danse.

His shirt and duster fell to the floor behind him, and Danse pushed him back on the bed, the sheets cool against MacCready’s naked skin.

This time they both fumbled for MacCready’s belt, undoing the hoops far slower than they both seemed to want. MacCready made a strangled noise against Danse’s lips, trying to undo his pants and kick off his boots without much luck.

“Did anyone ever tell you you’re damn impatient?” Danse murmured, unzipping MacCready’s fly. MacCready made a low hum in the back of his throat, bucking against Danse’s hand.

Danse pulled away, then, and MacCready tried to follow him, but was pushed back down on the bed. With a quick glance at MacCready’s face, Danse started unzipping his BOS uniform. He tried to act stoic, MacCready could tell, but this time a faint blush did creep up his neck.

MacCready bit down the snark, and watched Danse undress in a rare silence. Danse was all firm muscle, every part of him. He paused once the zipper was near the junction of his hips and leaned back down over MacCready. This time Danse palmed him through his pants, and MacCready gave a surprised groan at the contact.

Then Danse did short process of pulling off MacCready’s pants, and his face changed, ever so slightly, when MacCready’s erection was freed from the tight confines of his underwear.

They looked at each other, and MacCready couldn’t stop the nervous chuckle, his eyes flickering from Danse’s face to his own cock, who was far too close to Danse’s mouth for his comfort level.

“Danse, uh,” MacCready started, trying to scoot himself further up in bed. “Are you sure-”

That’s how far he got before Danse held on to his hips and licked his cock from base to tip, and whatever he had meant to say was lost in the strangled moan of surprise.

When Danse looked at him again that flush was back on his face, and although his features still seemed angry, his eyes had gone from rage to undeniable arousal. And, while maintaining eye contact, Danse leaned back down and wrapped his lips around MacCready’s cock.

“Fuck!” MacCready called out, and he didn’t have it in him to correct himself. Danse’s mouth seemed far warmer around his cock than it had pressed to his own mouth, his tongue like velvet when he trailed it over every sensitive part of MacCready. “I thought you were gonna try and kick my ass, not-” He snapped his mouth shut when he realized what he’d almost said, and Danse looked up at him, eyebrows raised.

He gave an appeasing smirk, before going back to the matter at hand, so to speak, but this time he used his hand as well, jerking MacCready off while putting that clever mouth to better use.

MacCready wasn’t sure whether to let his head fall back and just enjoy, or prop himself up by his elbows and watch Danse. It was surreal, watching him. All that power and anger, poured into something like this. Then again, he figured it must be surreal for Danse as well. All those snarky remarks, and here MacCready was, naked under Danse’s hold.

The bottom half of Danse’s jumpsuit was still covering him, but a sharp jolt or arousal shot through MacCready when he realized Danse was palming his own erection through the fabric, giving slight groans against MacCready’s cock.

“Damn,” MacCready breathed. “Look at you.”

“Yeah?” Danse whispered, looking up at MacCready.

“Yeah,” MacCready answered, suddenly utterly breathless. “You look-”

He didn’t get to finish it, because his breathlessness seemed to fuel Danse, who in a frenzy slipped his hands under MacCready’s thighs, hoisting him clear up from the mattress so MacCready was resting on his shoulders more than his back, his legs wrapped over Danse’s elbows. He felt vulnerable, in this position, in a way he wasn’t sure how to feel about.

More of him was allowed into Danse’s mouth at this angle, and MacCready couldn’t hold back the groan of pleasure when Danse sank to the base of his cock, face pinched in pleasure. It was too much, far too much, and MacCready squirmed in Danse’s hold.

Danse watched him, eyes burning, and the eye contact was much too intense for MacCready to maintain, especially when Danse slipped his grip from MacCready’s hips to his ass, palming the firm flesh with both hands. The touch didn’t linger, instead his fingers strayed from the swell of his ass, to a place MacCready wasn’t entirely sure he wanted him.

“Paladin Danse,” MacCready groaned, squirming further in his hold. “I don’t think-”

“You’ll find I’m not a Paladin anymore, civilian,” Danse said, and his tone was strange, like he couldn’t decide whether to be angry or upset about that fact. MacCready didn’t have time to dwell on it, before Danse’s fingers were rubbing the sensitive flesh.

“Hnngh,” MacCready managed, buring his own fingers in Danse’s hair. He clawed at his scalp, but Danse didn’t seem to mind. In fact, if anything, the action seemed to spur him on. There was nothing gentle about his movement, nothing gentle about either of their movements, each touch greedy and harsh.

“Do it,” MacCready hissed, the arousal bordering on a frenzy.

This time Danse had no comment on his patience, or lack thereof, he just pulled away leaving MacCready feeling cold and lonely. Danse knelt by the foot locker by the foot of his bed - ever the soldier - and pulled out a small bottle. Once he noticed MacCready’s eyes on him, he flushed again, hiding that weakness behind a scowl and a shrug.

He undressed with MacCready watching, his shoes first, then the uniform which he pulled down along with his underwear. MacCready already knew Danse was hard, he’d seen the heavy outline of it through the uniform, but it was quite another thing to see it unclothed like that, large and unapologetic.

Danse watched MacCready watching him, rolling his shoulders back under MacCready’s gaze, before getting back on the bed, moving like a predator. He hid the discomfort under the aggressive facade and MacCready spread his legs wider, past confusion and hesitation long gone. Danse knelt between MacCready’s legs, drizzling some of the content of the bottle onto his fingers. He coated his cock with it, giving himself a few strokes, before leaning forward over MacCready.

MacCready could see his own reflection in Danse’s dark eyes, but he saw more than that. He saw Danse’s stare, wide, unguarded and completely absorbed in nothing but MacCready. It was enough to make him swallow thickly, opening up wider for Danse.

In a strange act of intimacy, which for some reason felt more intimate than anything else they’d done so far, MacCready placed his hand on Danse’s chest. He felt Danse’s heart under the palm of his hand, pounding hard and sure. It was striking, how human Danse’s felt, from the beating of his heart, to the unsettlingly timid smile when he got closer to MacCready.

If anyone had told either of them this a week ago, hell, an hour ago, MacCready knew they’d had a laugh out of it. Maybe he’d even get angry by the implication; that he’d open up willingly for Danse, of all people. Yet here he was.

Maybe it was just the culmination of it all; A bad evening and a bad day. Old wounds opened up again. Or maybe none of it mattered. Especially not when Danse’s hips moved forward, and MacCready sucked in a breath of anticipation.

“Relax,” Danse murmured, but he didn’t look fit to say it. His own lips were trembling, his eyes darker still.

“Easy for you to say,” MacCready said through gritted teeth. “You’re not the one who-” MacCready let out a harsh hiss as Danse started sliding into his body. “- ‘ssss getting… Fuck. You feel amazing.”

Danse eased his way inside him, in one long, firm slide until their bodies were flush against each other. MacCready pinched his eyes shut, taking deep gulps of breath at the intensity of it.

Danse’s eyes were more intense than the friction between them, more intense than the surrender, than giving up all control. He was still watching MacCready’s face, not where their bodies were joined, and his chest was flushed.

He was poised above MacCready, his biceps trembling with the tight fit of him, holding himself still while MacCready got used to the intrusion.

“You can move, you know,” MacCready gritted out, tightening his fingers until they were digging into Danse’s chest. “I’m not made of china.”

“Could have fooled me,” Danse huffed, grabbing MacCready’s slender wrist and pinning it above his head. He pulled back and thrust back in. Not hard, but hard enough for MacCready to suck in a harsh breath through his teeth. Danse glared at him with one eyebrow raised.

“Get on with it,” MacCready said, too pinned down by Danse’s pelvis to do much of anything.

There was a flash of something in Danse’s eyes, and then he moved. MacCready groaned by the friction, the heat, the way Danse hit every single nerve ending on each stroke. He didn’t look unaffected either, and he bent down to kiss him. MacCready was holding his breath, body thrumming with tension. He was completely pinned under Danse, but he didn’t complain this time. Danse teased his tongue against MacCready’s lips, and MacCready groaned against his mouth and started to kiss him back.

Danse pulled back, then, leaning back on his heels, and his face took on a sly expression, his eyes gleaming with something dark and dangerous. MacCready wanted to ask, he wanted to, but all that escaped his lips when he tried was another groan. Danse’s hips drew back again, but this time he leaned back on his heels and pulled MacCready further up on his lap. When he drove his hips forward in that position, MacCready felt - fucking hell - he wasn’t sure what he felt, only that it fed a savage need in him that he hadn’t known he had. He dug his nails into Danse’s arm, babbling something nonsensical, trying to pull him closer or further apart or both, in a crazed sort of desperation.

Danse grunted and did it again, and this time MacCready arched his back off the bed to meet his thrust.

“Do you remember that day the water pumps stopped working?” Danse suddenly asked, and MacCready had to blink a few times, his mind in a haze.

“Wha-” he started, but he had to give up on a reply.

“You were down by the river, getting water, shirtless,” Danse continued. “And it was so hot that day. I could see sweat pearling on your back and I couldn’t stop fucking thinking about it.” It sounded like a threat. Like he hated MacCready for making him feel this way. “I dreamt about you and how much I wanted you.”

MacCready groaned, the words just fueling his arousal.

“Fuck,” he said, his voice cracking. He’d thought about this before. Not with Danse, but the physical act, and how hopelessly he’d misjudged how good it would feel. And now he couldn’t stop thinking about Danse, the way his muscles strained, the jut of his hip bones and the smile that couldn’t quite decide between sly and shy.

Danse was watching him, lost in arousal. Everything felt real, too real. The thick stubble on Danse’s jaw, his eyes that were lined with dark circles, like he really had had trouble sleeping for a while. His muscles were shown off even better in the position, his pecs and biceps straining when he yanked MacCready further up in his lap.

The position had Danse hit MacCready’s prostate full on, and MacCready was certain he was gonna come untouched. He was so close, just from Danse’s cock, hard and aching, inside him.

“Didn’t know you’d feel like this,” MacCready is finally able to groan. “So good, I’m gonna-”

“Yeah,” Danse said, sliding his fingers around MacCready’s cock, letting him fuck his fist for each thrust. “I want to see you.” And with that he sped up, fucking him with long, hard thrusts.

And this was the only implication that Danse was anything but human; the hard, pistoning thrusts and never ending stamina. But perhaps that wasn’t the synth in him, but the soldier.

It almost hurt, the intensity of it, and MacCready’s legs trembled when the first hot coils of his orgasm started curling in the pit of his stomach.

It was scary, more so than MacCready wanted to admit, to be vulnerable in that way, especially with Danse. He wanted to fight his impending orgasm, fight whatever intimacy he now shared with Danse, but it was impossible. It would be like trying to stop a Deathclaw with a tire iron.

His toes curled, and he dug his heels against the back of Danse’s thighs, fighting for leverage as he fucked into Danse’s fist. All accompanied by that delicious slide of Danse’s cock inside him.

“Fu- Shit, I’m gonna come,” MacCready said, sounding almost frightened.

“Yes,” Danse said quietly, staring at him hungrily while fucking into him harder.

The orgasm hit him like the aforementioned Deathclaw, like a bucket of boiling water, like an atom bomb. It burned through him like fire, reducing his spine to liquid and his mind to fog. His cock jerked rhythmically, sending spurts of cum over his chest and belly. He was vaguely aware of babbling something unfiltered, something he hoped wouldn’t come back to him later when he could properly analyze what he’d said.

He did hear Danse, though.

“You’re amazing,” he said, even more quiet than before, holding MacCready’s hips in a crushing hold. “You feel so good.”

MacCready gasped and pushed the back of his head into Danse’s pillow, resisting the urge to bite and claw at Danse. He felt fuller than before, clenching around Danse’s cock, and he jerked a few extra times as his orgasm ebbed out.

Danse’s thrusts grew slightly erratic, and he pushed his pelvis hard against MacCready’s ass before stilling and tilting his head back. He gave a low groan, before refocusing on MacCready’s face. MacCready thought he felt Danse pulse inside him, and he couldn’t stop a groan of his own. Danse was watching him, with an expression MacCready couldn’t quite decipher, before sinking down on top of him. MacCready gave a gruff sound at Danse’s solid weight, but allowed Danse to mold himself against him regardless.

They laid in silence for a moment, before Danse placed a soft kiss against MacCready’s neck, and rolled off him. They were silent again, side by side, MacCready with his gaze firmly to the ceiling, Danse with his arm slung across MacCready’s middle.

Their breaths and heart stilled in the silence and MacCready wasn’t sure what to make of the heavy arm resting across his waist, or what they had just done. Apparently, neither could Danse, because when MacCready glanced over at him, he had his brow furrowed.

“I kinda liked it,” MacCready finally said, still looking up at the ceiling.

“Did you now?” Danse said, not laughing, but there was a touch of a smile in his voice, and when MacCready turned to look at him, the tension had drained from his face.

“I mean, maybe it was just my utter repulsion for you,” MacCready mumbled, and this time Danse actually chuckled.

“Of course. And I was merely expressing my hatred for you.”

MacCready gave a snort and shifted a bit on the narrow bed.

“I must say I’m relieved you’re not all exposed metal under that brotherhood suit of yours.” It was probably the wrong thing to say and MacCready knew that the second the words were out, but that was who he was; Harsh and uncompromising, and this hadn’t changed that. “Like Nick,” he continued.

“Maybe not so hard to understand how I thought I was human.”

MacCready finally turned to Danse, and there was almost something like a challenge in Danse’s gaze, like he was daring MacCready to argue against him.

They watched each other in silence for a moment, and MacCready realized there was something else there as well, an uncertainty, like Danse had exposed a little too much by the comment. It almost seemed like it was important to Danse, what MacCready thought of him.

“It makes more sense now,” MacCready finally said, trying to be tactful when there wasn’t a tactful bone in his body. “That you didn’t think you were anything but. It’s funny, though, this-” he gestured to their still naked bodies. “I mean, we’ve fought for so long and-”

“And now?” Danse asked, and there was definite tension in his voice now.

“And now we go back to flinging insults, I suppose.”

“You’re an idiot.” The hesitation was gone from Danse’s voice, and the sarcasm had returned. But still, there was something almost fond there.

“I aim to please,” MacCready snickered, and Danse groaned. He still pulled MacCready a little closer, though, and soon they drifted off to sleep.  
  


* * *

  
They were all sitting around the firepit the next evening, roasting something Nate had hauled home from God knows where. MacCready didn’t know what it was, but it went well with the leftover beers, and he joined in on the stories that were being told, even as they got more and more ridiculous as the night moved on.

This time Danse was seated next to him, and as the night progressed, their thighs were almost flush against each other. It was nice, the warmth of him, even if he didn’t talk all that much. Neither did MacCready, when he thought about it. He’d even ignored more than one opportunity to flirt with Piper, and that was just unacceptable. And for who? Danse?

MacCready frowned and wondered how any of this would ever work out. If they would continue this- this- He gave up trying to put it into words. Truth was that he had no idea how this would ever work out, how it ever could work out. Or if he even wanted it to.

Danse still irked him. He was still pigheaded and bigoted, all those idiotic opinions droned out in that strange, emotionless voice of his. But there was more, and MacCready knew it. The way Danse’s adam’s apple would bob sometimes, just before making one of those damned honest statements that left half of the settlers quiet, and the other half angry. The slight weakness behind that firm soldier’s facade, if it was a weakness at all. That hesitation that made something inside MacCready’s chest ache.

MacCready had never imagined a second chance, yet here he was. Maybe it was selfish of him to deny Danse that same opportunity.

When he turned his head, he found Danse watching him, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

And, damn him, MacCready found himself smiling right back.


End file.
